Stepping away from your parents at a young age is something that most children would be leery about. However, Nicole Schäfer at the age of 15 hopped on a plane and said “see you later” to her parents and family for 10 months. Looking back, three years later Nicole recounts her adventures as an exchange student.

“I remember not being able to sleep that whole night. The feeling was a mix between being upset and extreme excitement. Saying goodbye to my family at the airport, I was filled so many different emotions that I couldn’t stop talking. I was so nervous I was crying but ready to take the first step in my new adventure,” remembers Nicole with a quiver in her voice.

Recalling the memories brought up old and new emotions. The look on her face told a story. Digging up those old emotions at the beginning of a grand new adventure and the new emotions of remembering and wishing she could go back.

What leads a person to pack up and leave the life they know behind? For Nicole, it has always been apart of her life. Her father, at the age of 17 set off on his very own adventure. He quickly realized the lessons learned and new outlook on life was something he wanted to pass down to his two daughters.

Jorge Schäfer states what he wanted for his girls, “I wanted my daughters to experience a new culture by becoming apart of that culture, then compare and see Germany through different eyes. To have a different view on different aspects on life, like politics. To see that different is not always bad, to be more accepting of different ways of life and thinking. Also to form their own opinion’s on what they think is better.”

Ultimately the decision was up to Nicole, there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to experience what her dad had preached her whole life on her own and her older sister experienced the year before. She started her journey, with a ten-month application process.

“The moment I found out I was accepted, it hit me exactly what I was about to do.” The nerves and excitement swirled through her mind. “It was hard for me to realize that it would be a year before I’d get to see her again,” Nicole’s mother, Renata Schäfer says.

Nicole had seen what the movie portrayed the American school system as. How the lunchroom was set up with each different clique at there own table, homecoming and football games. Nicole wanted to play her own role in that diverse system.

Although nervous no one would want to be friends with the weird German girl that couldn’t speak English well, Nicole jumped into the American school system. To this day she remembers wanting to fly back to Germany the night after her first day of school. Moving schools is hard enough let alone a new school in a different country.

“I felt stupid, I didn’t understand the school system. The day was set up way different and I hated being the “new kid”. By far my worst memory,” explained Nicole.

Things started to look up the second day and continued upward until the day she left. Nicole went through the rest of the school year with a close knit group of friends and kept busy with many different activities.

“It (school) was just like the movies, I love my school, there in America. I had a feeling that no matter what would happen, we were all in this together, including the facility,” says Nicole.

Quickly the last semester was coming to a close. Nicole reminisces about her finals days at school, “My golf coach was the first person to say goodbye to me, and that’s when I realized everything was coming to an end. I can still hear her say that one word.”

The feelings while getting on to the plane to leave America mirror the feeling when she left Germany. “My host family was my second family. It was hard to understand that I would never live there again,” she said while tearing up. “It was hard to realize that.”

The Waitt Lecture Series presented Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press” Tuesday night at Morningside College. With Epply auditorium’s lower level full, Todd took the stage and started by showing his personality by cracking a few jokes. The audience welcomed him with excitement and laugher.

Todd talked about his opinion of each political party and his personal view on Washington. “We are now in a political recession,” says Todd. Todd explained that our distrust in Washington and the default feeling of wanting change explains why we have candidates who have never wanted to run for office, not only are but are maintaining a top spot.

Change is the main goal of a lot of Americans. Todd explains that there is a sense of ‘I’m getting by but…’ among Americans. He also says that for the past five years many Americans feel as if their kids will not be better of then they are right now. “It’s no wonder that we are looking for unconventional.”

Todd also brought his political outlook on the possible candidates for each party. He started out by saying, “I have no idea who the republican candidate will be.” He goes on to explain how there is a large disconnect within the Republican Party, some of the issue being different economic opinion. He does predict that Marco Rubio has the best shot at bringing these two sides together.

“Trump is a good story,” Todd says. He in continually getting stronger and stronger in the polls. However, Todd says he does not believe that Trump has the organization to win Iowa in the Caucuses. Todd finished the Republican Party by saying, “If we don’t have clarity soon, we won’t have it for a while.”

The Democratic Party has a lot of different candidates but Hilary Clinton is one of the most popular candidates. Todd believes even though Joe Biden hasn’t announced whether or not he is running, is the most electable of the group.

Todd finishes by leaving the millennials a massage, “Its no secret Washington is a mess. We can’t fix this mess if we don’t all get involved.”

The Morningside swim team begins the season with the end goal of nationals in their minds, however the location has yet to be determined. Although this is causing some disruptions the team pushes forward as planned.

For each of the past four years Oklahoma Baptist College, located in Oklahoma City, has hosted The NAIA Men and Women’s National Swimming Championships. Oklahoma Baptist had signed a contract with the NAIA that they would continue to host the championships for several years into the future. Within the legal contract a clause allowed Oklahoma Baptist the ability to break their contract and withdraw from hosting the championships. The college was allowed only twenty-four hours after the championships to withdraw from the contract.

After last years championship Oklahoma Baptist decided to not only end the contract, but also their relationship with the NAIA completely. Due to this decision the location of Nationals has not yet been decided at this point in time. This is putting has put some additional stress on some members of the swim team and their families.

Head Coach Bryan Farris states that in the grand scheme of things, the unknown location only affects certain aspects of the team. “Not knowing the location doesn’t affect the way I train my team. The yards they put in the pool would be the same if nationals were still in Oklahoma City or anywhere else. The dates don’t change. However it would nice to know for planning.” He did mention that some of the swimmers are definitely anxious for the location to be disclosed.

“I would like to have a vague idea where the end result is.” says Evelyn Edge, two-time national swimmer. Whereas others swimmers are not nearly as nervous. “My training isn’t affected because there is still the goal of making it to nationals to motivate me,” says Mike Andrlik, three-time national swimmer.

Another area of concern is how the budget may be affected. Farris said, “A benefit of Morningside athletics is we have a separate budget for the trip to nationals. Other teams, however, are not as lucky.”

Knowing if the team will have to travel further than usual can put a huge strain on that budget. Travel costs can add up quickly. Parents of the swimmers will be greatly affected by the new location. “Since I don’t know how far away it might be, it’s hard to plan with my family if they will be able to make it or not if I able eligible to go.” Mike Andrlik says.

The location will hopefully be announced some time during this semester. Until that time then the Mustang swimmer will keep putting in yards at the pool. The Mustangs are hopeful and looking towards a great season.

“This year we brought in ten new swimmers, the team is looking very strong,” say Coach Farris. Farris is excited to see where his team is now compared to last year. He looks forward with hope of great impro

This weeks article is about the court case suing a gun seller, Badger Guns, for their negligence in a gun sale that happened in 2009. The gun sold in this case was used a few weeks later by a teenager in attempt to murder two local police officers.

The case is built around the idea that Badger guns knew that the person they are selling the gun to was not buying the gun for himself. However the teenage boy that accompanied him and help pick out the gun.

This story has elements like human interest and is also related to a hot topic, gun control. Both of these news values are pretty good ways to pull in a reader.

Stuart Scott received the Jimmy V award at EPYS last night and gave an inspiring speech ending with an personal moment.

Scott, a well known sportscaster and anchor on ESPN accepted the award feeling as if he didn’t measure up to the rest of the greats that have been given this award of great perseverance. He said he wasn’t anything special, he just listened to Jim Valvano and his advice spoken 21 years ago,“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up”.

Standing in front a full house of tear filled eyes and he gave his own advice on the journey of fighting illness. Scott asked to amend a previous statement that said, “I’m not losing. I’m still here, I’m fighting. I’m not losing.” He fixes it by saying, “When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live.”

As of Sunday Scott was unsure if he would be able to even stand up and accept this award, after going through four surgeries in seven days and he said,”So, live. Live. Fight like hell. And when you get too tired to fight then lay down and rest and let somebody else fight for you.”

This story is about how difficult it is becoming to not only follow the increasing and ever change regulations on lethal drugs for inmates sentenced to death, but also to receive the drugs.

This story goes in depth talking about the all problem each state has ran into. I find this story to be in very interesting because it pulls form the human interest news value as well as that the story is kind of bizarre. I also find it very educational, I enjoy learning news things.

Morningside Professor sets off for a semester in Italy while putting a crazy life on hold.

Patrick Blaine, a Spanish Professor, who values international education is proud to be one of the professors’s selected to travel with Morningside students to Sicily, Italy. However, Blaine’s life here in the States isn’t dull.

Blaine started at Morningside six years ago and has enjoyed it ever since. The higher ups really work with him by giving him quite a bit of freedom when he asks for it. Blaine stays busy teaching spanish courses on campus, and still times find to be on the Study Aboard Committees, and Sustainability committee, as well as the faculty advisor for ISA (International Students Association), ODK (Omicron Delta Kappa), Film Club, Sustainability Club, and Spanish Club.

As if this wasn’t enough to keep Blaine’s plate full, he is also very involved in the community. Blaine serves on different committees and aids in planning community events. Blaine also has a very busy family life thats about to get busier. Blaine and his wife, Monica of thirteen years are expecting their first child. On top of this exciting news, Blaine and Monica just bought a house together and are working on remodeling the 102 year-old home.

Through all this hard work, Blaine still find time to enjoy interesting, sometimes, dangerous hobbies. “I work hard. I play hard.” Blaine explains. The sense of adventure boils in his blood and fills his soul. The urge to explore really heighten while studying abroad in Spain while as a student, continued to grow while working in Chile, and is just as present today.

When Blaine isn’t globe trotting on his many different adventures, he keeps his “free time” full with various activities. Blaine prefers the dangerous side of life. “I really need those breaks, just to come down from the stress” says Blaine. Outdoors is where Blaine spends most of this time, either going on long distance motorcycle bike trips, camping, hiking, and different feats, like skydiving. Blaine is trying to accomplish all he can while his body is able and will adjust as he grows unfit for the physically demanding activities.

Even through Blaine busiest days he wouldn’t change his life for anything. “It never accrues to me to calm down by very busy schedule so I don’t do deadly outdoor activities to relax”.

Kim Davis is still in the news after a few weeks. Her recent objection to gay marriage has caught the attention of the Pope on his visit to the Untied States.

The Vatican officials set up a secret meeting for the Pope and Davis and her husband to meet in the Vatican Embassy while the Pope was in the states.

The meeting was agreed to be kept a secret until the Pope left the United States, so his visit wasn’t focused on his meeting with the Davis’s.

The Pope believes that the right to expression religion is a right that should not be limited. If the right to religious expression is limited then all other rights should be limited. Otherwise, you are saying one right is more important the other.

The Pope was quoted telling Davis to, “Stay strong”.

This story has made national news because it hits a lot of news values. Some of these include human interest, prominence and it is definitely unique.

I thought this story was very well put together. I love how he started backwards and work his way back to the moment Joey died. I thought overall that this story showed really good journalism. The story was very eye opening to me. I really enjoy reading stories like this. I love learning something in a heartfelt way. The human interest in this story pulled me in making me want to finish the whole stories including the interviews. I would read this over and over. I really enjoyed it.